It never ceases to amaze when manufacturers try to convince people that an issue with something they purchased is actually a “feature”. Apple has most recently tried to convince buyers of the iPhone 5 that the purple haze or ring around bright light sources is normal behavior.

An iPhone 5 owner named Matt Van Gastel had been speaking with Apple customer support about the purple flare problem with his iPhone 5. Gizmodo shows images highlighting the difference between photographs taken in the same setting using iPhone 5 compared to the iPhone 4. The purple haze around the sun is readily apparent in the iPhone 5 image, and the same purple discoloration shows up with any bright light source.

After going back and forth with Apple support, Van Gastel received an email back from Apple stating that their engineering team has found a solution to the problem. According to Apple, the solution is to "angle the camera away from the bright light source when taking pictures."

The email also went on to say that the purple flare noted in images provided to customer service is "normal behavior for the iPhone 5s camera."

Gizmodo reports that some photography experts believe that the purple flare problem is caused by the sapphire glass that covers the iPhone 5 camera sensor.

The photo with the sun in the edge of the frame just shows the effect in an unmistakable way. The effect is called 'purple fringing' by photographers. Inferior lenses have more - good ones have almost none. The purple fringing occurs along the edge of any bright light source. That could be a candle in a dark room. In my 35 years of shooting photographs - including plenty involving flare from the sun, I have never seen so much purple fringing. If the camera is doing that, it is also layering a thick edge of purple to any light/dark contrasting edge in a photo. Might be the cheapest plastic possible (to get the device thinner, I am sure) in that camera.

If you have been shooting for 35 years you should be able to tell why this purple ghosting is occurring. The sapphire lens apple used is AR coated on BOTH sides and the internal Sony lens is also coated. These coatings are purple and the cause of these abberations are caused by internal reflections. If the sapphire lens was only coated on the outside and not the inside (or the Sony lens was not coated), this issue would not be occurring.